


Flower Valley

by StuckyandStarWars



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Caduceus Clay Deserves Nice Things, M/M, Mighty Nien in battle, eodwulf questions his morality, i lied I’m serious about this, jester knows all, more mighty nein name coincidences, paladin eodwulf, this is kinda a crack ship but not really, veth is rude to fjord (as usual)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:54:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26594020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StuckyandStarWars/pseuds/StuckyandStarWars
Summary: Eodwulf is caught up in three things- a fight- a crush on a certain Firbolg- a reevaluation of what he wants to beEdit- I wrote this before Cad came out as Aro/ace! It’s possible he is not aro but he is certainly ace, and I don’t want that to be overshadowed by my writing I wrote long before this was canon. Thank you!
Relationships: Caduceus Clay/Eodwulf, Eodwulf/Caduceus Clay
Comments: 12
Kudos: 147





	Flower Valley

**Author's Note:**

> So here I have pulled all of Eodwulfs powers out of the PHB, XGTE, and my ass. I have him as Wizard first (I didn’t feel the need to specify a school for this) and an Oath of conquest Paladin second. Enjoy!

It was just a stupid trip out of Rexxentrum. Not even that far. Eodwulf had been told by Master Ikithon that he would be the security team escorting Caleb and his new friends to a location that Vess Dergona wanted something from and that he was to find out as much as possible about their goal. He was not expecting them to be ambushed. 

Seven- nine- no… twelve people surrounded them. The group, who had said they were called the Mighty Nien, were already jumping into battle. He watched as the blue one summoned what must have been her spiritual weapon, but it was a lollipop the size of him that was covered in spikes. He decided that given what he had seen this was fitting.

“Well, I guess it’s time to see what you can do with those arms, Wulf.” Caleb looked back at him from where he was casting what looked like Haste on one of his companions. 

Twelve people, well equipped with weapons and a wide variation of skills were coming at them from every direction. This up against the powerhouse that seemed to be the Mighty Nien and a Scourger and a half… they seemed evenly matched. Eodwulf turned his attention on the closest one to him and drew his sword off of his back. The weapon was a spectacular black bladed longsword. His enemy smiled and drew her own weapon. Her great sword was much bigger than his, but he swung low and hit her first try right above the knee. The half orc finished her own swing, which came down hard on a shield he conjured. She let it slide off the side and swung it back towards his arm. He almost managed to dodge it, but the blade sliced into his shoulder and he was forced to back up. He saw the shock of pain cross her face as the blade connected and powerful holy energy crackled from his body to hers. 

Eodwulf decided to go for a ranged attack against his opponent. He dropped his shield spell and cast blight. She staggered, letting go of the sword with one hand and bringing it up to her chest before recovering in a matter of seconds and grinning back at him. It hadn’t taken. Damn. Maybe they weren’t so evenly matched.

This thought was reinforced when another attacker came at him from behind. The first arrow caught him by surprise and painfully dug into his side, but he stepped to the right fast enough to dodge the second. He saw where the arrows had come from- an archer positioned between him and the rest of the group. Not an ideal place for a ranged fighter, but he realized then that he wasn’t in an ideal place either. The rest of the group had started fighting a good twenty feet ahead of where he was and had moved up further to meet their opponents, and he had moved ten or twenty feet back back the way they came. This meant there was roughly eighty feet between him and the people he had been traveling with. 

He would have to make do on his own. The woman with the great sword was rushing him but he side stepped both attacks without much issue. He reached into his component pouch and found the fur, piece of glass, and three silver pins that he needed for his next spell. Targeting the archer, lighting swirled up around him and crackled outward. Then three separate charges raced towards the fighter next to him and the mage he saw in a tight battle with the Neins rouge. The archer, who already had two crossbow bolts in him and hadn’t foreseen the strike enough to move at all, crumpled dead. The one right next to Eodwulf looked fried but still had as much pep in her as she could possibly have after getting struck by lighting. 

One of her next two swings grazed the inside of his arm as he moved to take up a defense position, but her second landed heavy in the dirt next to him. Even though she seemed to be expecting the psychic pain that came with hitting him she flinched when it happened. She had moved in close enough that Eodwulf was almost forced to go for a melee attack. She blocked it easily and pushed him backwards. He tripped over his own feet just enough to throw him off balance and when he looked back up he saw the downward swing of a sword that could easily cut him in half. He couldn’t get his arm up quick enough for a shield to be effective and even if his sword could lift to meet the blow it might be driven right into his own skull. Still, he tried to lift the black blade. Inches before the sword made contact with him there was a flash of light and the fighter was distracted. He used this to move enough that the blade dug painfully into his arm, but missed his skull. 

He couldn’t help but look in the direction of the distraction that had possibly saved his life. He saw Caduceus, one of the clerics, standing with his hand out. A silvery glow was fading from his fingertips. He had the most serious look on his face Eodwulf had seen in his short time knowing the firbolg and was walking in his direction. He was reminded of his various confusing feelings about and for the man. Unlike anyone he had ever met before, Caduceus was incredibly solid. Like an anchor. 

He realized he was distracted as well almost a moment too late, but he threw up another magical shield and blocked the half orc’s second attack. He was about to make another attack when he felt a wave of energy roll through his body. He spared another glance at Caduceus to see that he was smiling, and quickly put together that he had been blessed. 

With the strength of his newfound holy energy he dealt the half orc a heavy blow without issue. He used this extra godly power to call on his own, sending out a quick prayer to the matron. He felt the power rock through his blade and arm as he made contact. She fell dead with smoke pouring out of her eyes, ears, and mouth.

“You’re a Paladin.” Caduceus stated as he finished closing the distance between them. “I was coming over to help you, but if you have your own holy power I doubt you’ll need it.”

“Your help was very much appreciated. I think that blow might have split me in two.” He removed his sword from the corpse. “And yes, I am.”

“Ah, any time. May I ask who of?” The firbolg knelt next to the body and touched her forehead. Eodwulf guessed he already knew and was just asking to be polite.

“The Raven Queen.” His hand instinctively jumped to his necklace as he watched the body he had just killed begin to rapidly decompose. “That’s a useful spell.”

“It returns them to the earth faster. I have ties to the Matron, though I am a follower of the Wildmother.” Caduceus stood back up and looked down at Eodwulf, smiling that soft and sweet smile.

“How’s that?” He could have been better at hiding the bit of excitement in his voice. 

“My family, the Clays, are descendents of a champion of hers. Given to the Wildmother when deciding what to do with the body of a hero alongside-”

“Dust and Stone.” Eodwulf finished, very vaguely recalling the tale and hoping to the Matron he hadn’t just gotten the names wrong.

Caduceus’s wider smile was a good indication he hadn’t. “I’ve never met anyone else who knew the story!”

“Don’t let me impress you too much, I hardly know it.” He desperately wracked his mind for any more details on this very nechie part of religious history.

“CADUCEUS FOR FUCKS SAKE! We are still fighting!” A loud voice carried from the other side of the field. “What are you doing?!”

“Oh, right. I'LL BE RIGHT THERE BEAU!” He yelled back. “We have to finish this conversation later, I want to know what you know.”

Eodwulf followed him towards the rest of the group at a full sprint. There were still four enemies remaining, and the Mighty Nien were in varying states of bloody. He rested a hand on his own chest and closed the majority of his wounds before moving to finish off the rest of the attackers.

—

“So somebody from nicodranas went through the trouble of hiring people in Rexxentrum to kill you?” Eodwulf was looking at the bloodied kill order they had found on one of the bodies. 

They were sitting around a round table back in Rexxentrum. He had been invited for after-battle drinks and had accepted. If anything could tell Ikithon that he still needed to find out what was in the package they had picked up. Not that he cared personally.

Jester nodded. “It’s my fault really.”

“Jessie, come on. That guy was an asshole. He fucking deserved it. Both times.” Veth put a hand on the tieflings shoulder. “Plus those guys were easy. Really. A piece of cake.”

“I don’t know if I’d say easy-” said Fjord, who had been knocked unconscious by a monk near the end of the battle. 

“No, Fjord. They were really easy. You’re just weak.”

“Now, come on. I thought we had moved on past this.” The half orc leaned forward in his seat.

“Past what? You getting all your powers from outside sources and having none of your own?” Veth took her hand off of Jester’s shoulder and looked at Fjord.

“Hey!” 

“You know, I get all my powers from a god too.” Jester said, trying to help Fjord out.

“Yeah, he’s not a god. Plus you’re super buff and beautiful. Fjords got noodle arms.”

“I do not-!”

“And Caduceus gets all his powers from the Wildmother!”

“He’s also a really good cook. And great at speeches. Fjord vomits balls and saltwater. And now he doesn’t even do that!”

“I can sail!” Fjord grasped for something. “Who the fuck got us away from that dragon turtle?”

“Oh my god now you’re taking credit for Maruis’s hard work? That’s a new low, even for you.” The table exploded into groans and loud protest.

There was a lot Eodwulf wasn’t picking up on in this conversation. Gods who weren’t gods, ball vomit, boats, dragon turtles, and some guy named Marius, so he was just as thankful as Fjord looked when Beau and Yasha came back with drinks and food. He drank his ale and ate his extremely chewy pork chop. He was used to higher quality food but Caleb had insisted on paying and he wasn’t just going to throw away a meal someone else paid for. 

He was perfectly content to listen to their arguments, but he was also glad when Caduceus picked up from their earlier conversation.

“How much do you know about the Clay, Stone, and Dust story?”

“Not much. Basically just that the three champions were told to seek the Wildmother for guidance because the Matron didn’t have anything more for them, and that they went their separate ways. I would love to hear more though.”

“Well, as far as the Clays go, we went to the Savalirwood with the head of the hero, and we protect the Blooming Grove.”

“The Savalirwood? That’s a dangerous place to grow up.”

Caduceus shrugged. “No more dangerous than anywhere else, if we didn’t leave the grove too often.”

“You said… you said it is called the Blooming Grove?” He felt a smile crawling up his face 

“Yes,it is beautiful. Why?”

“The place where I grew up. Where we grew up-“ he gestured to Caleb. “Is Blumenthal. Not the same, but similar.”

“Huh.” He chuckled. “And another coincidence to tie me to this group.”

Eodwulf wasn’t sure what the other things were, but he said “I don’t believe in coincidence.” He finished off his drink. “Everything happens for a reason. Even if that reason is bullshit.”

“What is the final reason?” Eodwulf realized how happy he was in this moment. Talking with another person about these things, about fate, about something his entire faith hinged on, was amazing.

“I can’t claim to know. Death, probably. That’s what the Matron would say at least.”

Caduceus smiled. “Death is not the final reason, it’s just the last coincidence.”

In a weird, roundabout way, Eodwulf found that the statement made sense. “Then the final reason. What do you think it is?”

“I think the reason is to do every last amount of good you can. Help people. Save them. I think death is either a way to tell a person that they have accomplished this or that they are too far gone to ever help people.”

“That’s… interesting.” He felt a shudder pass through his soul and he tried his best not to show it.. “Blumenthal.” He was changing the subject, but he had just remembered this. “It translates to “Flower Valley” in common.”

“Huh.” Caduceus tilted his head. “That is awfully similar.”

They sat without speaking. After a while the Firbolg got up and went to the bar to order something, and Eodwulf barely listened to the other members discuss a topic he had missed the first half of. It was something about the package they had picked up for Vess, but he honestly couldn’t bring himself to care. His mind- and eyes if he was being honest- continued to drift back to Caduceus. He was sitting at the bar with Caleb and Eodwulf could hear the low rumble of his voice from where he was sitting. He was so lost in his own thoughts and the questions he wanted to ask this absolute specimen that he didn’t notice he was very openly stating until blue hands snapped in front of his face. 

Jester had taken the seat next to him. The table was empty except for the two of them- Veth was with Caduceus and Caleb, Beau and Yasha were playing a drinking game and Fjord was nowhere to be seen. 

“Heyyy Eodwulf. Look, I like you. I think you’re cool and all. And any friend of Calebs is a friend of ours, especially old ones who he has definitely had sex with. But I have to tell you. If you hurt Caduceus I will personally break every single bone in your extremely buff body. You can count on it.”

He was taken aback. His first instinct was denial. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m not stupid. I know when someone likes someone. But we’ve got to make a clear line here. Caduceus is one of the best people you will ever meet, and you are an evil wizard. An evil wizard who works for the evil wizard bad guys. And you will not lay a hand on Caduceus until you change a lot. Understood?”

Why did that hurt so much? No one liked to be called evil but he certainly had been before. Just… it never made his stomach curl like it did then. He was shocked, so he nodded.

“Good. By the way, you did really well in the fight today. That lighting was awesome.”

“Thank you.” He stood up. “I’m going to go home now. Tell everyone I said goodbye, please. It was nice to see you in action.”

He grabbed his coat and sword, dropped a few silver on the table, and left before he was forced to say goodbye to any of them. What the hell was this pink firbolg doing to his brain?

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked that! Personally I can’t believe how many name coincidences these people come across (stone and the eyes of nine as a few examples) and when I saw the blooming grove/blumenthal I HAD TO. Let me know if there are any errors please I finished this at 2:30 am and am posting it at 3.


End file.
